Espino de Tango was written in 2022, and premiered the same year by Craig Ogden at the Cawsand Bay Guitar Festival.

 

The Tango originated at the end of the C19th as a disreputable paired dance in the bars and slums of the River Plata region between Argentina and Uruguay. It spread on shipping lines across the world, resulting in a fusion of European and African cultures. By 1914, the Tango had gained respectability and become the hottest craze in New York. By the early ‘20s, the spirited music had become  powerfully melancholic.

 

Espina de Tango translates as ‘thorny tango’: a reference to its dissonant spikes, and a nod to the witty title of the party piece Tango en Skaï by Roland Dyens. (Skaï means P.V.C.)

 

The piece opens with a traditional tango rhythm: a syncopated ostinato Habanera. Here, it is based on the Argentinian flavour, a slower 4/4 rather than the Spanish 2/4 march (as in Bizet’s Carmen). The first section is minor, chromatic and sultry, reflecting the serious nature of the dance in late-night back street slums.

 

Section B introduces a second common tango rhythm, this time in the major. A hint of a conversation can be heard between the dancers as the sun rises. A return to the original ostinato leads
to a nostalgic section C. The first theme then returns, with added tension, but the music ends calmly.